Never in Vain
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When life goes sideways, when everything that once was called sin is now called normal, when bitter is proclaimed sweet, and darkness is promoted as light, I try to remember that nothing happens in all creation, and certainly nothing happens in this nation, independent of the absolute sovereign control of the Creator whom I call Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
What that means on can uniquely and passionately personal level, is that God literally “formed my inward parts; [He] wove me in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139). Of 250 MILLION sperm cells, God PERSONALLY selected only one to fertilize the ova my mother ovulated during that particular month.
Grasp that concept. One cell out of 250,000,000.
When things go sideways in my life, I try to remember that as God was so involved in my life at conception, He is just as involved in my life today, down to the number of hairs on my head, or what happens in and around my life today. And tomorrow.
That’s all on the micro level – God’s intimate involvement and sovereignty in my life. But that is not the end of the matter. On a macro level, God tells us: “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales” (Isaiah 40); In the second Psalm He tells us: “The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!”
Then notice the Creator’s response to what He views as laughably insignificant kings, presidents, and senators: “He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them.”
It is a terrifying thing to be the focus of the Creator’s scoffing.
In all this, God tries to show me He is manipulating everything that seems to be going sideways in the nation, manipulating it all according to His preordained purposes which He planned before He created the earth.
No, Richard, things are not falling apart. They are falling into place.
“Fear not,” He tells me and everyone else who loves Him, ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)
Richard Maffeo was born into a Jewish home in the early 1950s. In 1972 he discovered Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, and he dove into his awakened faith with a passion that continues to this present day. He has written three books, writes a blog, and teaches several bible studies each week at 55+ communities. You can find his blog at www.inhimonly.blogspot.com. You can find him on Facebook by searching for his name.
Richard and his wife Nancy are married more than 50 years. They have three grown children.
